Is IN GOOD COMPANY 'Out On A Limb' or is OUT ON A LIMB 'In Good Company''

Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a couple reviews conveniently paired up by yours truly in order to create that utterly confusing headline. IN GOOD COMPANY has gotten a little press on the site both under this new name and SYNERGY, it's original title. This film has my attention based on cast alone. Topher Grace is awesome and hilarious, Scarlette Johansson is drop dead gorgeous, I've loved David Paymer since NIGHT OF THE CREEPS (screaming rike banshees!), Dennis Quaid can be a damn strong actor when the mood strikes him and Selma Blair ain't hard to look at. The below reviewer seems to be a tad disappointed, but still insists it's well worth a look. After IN GOOD COMPANY, I have a review of OUT ON A LIMB, a flick that hasn't gotten much coverage anywhere, but sounds pretty damn good, so make sure to stick around after the below review!

Hey Harry and the gang. Bungion Boy here with a review of Paul Weitz’ new film “In Good Company” which I saw tonight in New York. By the by, “Synergy” was a much better title, especially within the context of the film. “In Good Company” as a title reminds me of “As Good as It Gets” meets “In the Company of Men,” which I guess, in a way this film is. Brief sum up of the plot (mild spoilers): the magazine that Dennis Quaid works for is bought by a major parent company owned by Malcome McDowell in the guise of Teddy K. He is not fired but he is demoted and informed that his new boss is Topher Grace who is half his age. On the outside, Topher is slick, cut throat business man on the rise, but at the same time as he starts at the magazine, his wife leaves him and he becomes insecure and scared of his new position. He tries to latch on to one of his office mates and Quaid, quite accidentally fills the shoes. This continues for many months and then Topher begins to date Quaid’s daughter, played by Scarlett Johansson. Then, dramedy ensues.

I had really been looking forward to this film because ever since “About a Boy” I couldn’t wait to see what Weitz came up with next. This film is not as good as “Boy” but is still incredibly watchable and entertaining. The film succeeds mostly because of Grace, who walks away with the whole film. He is so funny and so charming that there isn’t a moment that he’s onscreen that I wasn’t completely invested in what was happening. So the film’s few problems can’t be blamed on Grace, so where to place the blame. Let me begin.

Quaid continues to show, after films like “Traffic” and “Far From Heaven”, that he has become more talented and charming than he was as a younger actor, (save his awesome performance as Gordo Cooper in “The Right Stuff”). However, there are times, especially early in the film, where he seems a little uncomfortable doing this comedic character. Especially in his scenes with Scarlett, Quaid seems to occasionally have trouble playing “cool dad.” Johansson is another problem. Not that she is bad in the film at all, but she isn’t given much to do. Her relationship with Grace isn’t handled as well as it could have been. Their consummation is one of the funniest scenes in the movie, but after that, we hardly see them together and we never are able to get a sense of how important the relationship is to the characters. Instead, they tell us about it, but we only have a few scenes of seeing them together. After Quaid discovers their relationship, he makes a huge deal about it and we never understand why, because by that point he has almost accepted Grace as a friend and has established that he wants his daughter to be happy. Still, the wrap up of the film is very effective and some of these mild complaints should not be enough to keep people from this really enjoyable film. Again, it’s all about Topher. This film won’t get him an Oscar nod, but it will help him get him off the sinking ship that is “That 70’s Show” and will establish him as one of the best actors of his age working today. He was also great and a little more complex in “P.S.” which I saw earlier this week. The supporting cast is also great, but underused. Marg Helgenberger is fine as Quaid’s wife, David Paymer has some good bits as a worker at the magazine, Selma Blair as Grace’s wife, Phillip Baker Hall as a big client, and Clark Gregg is hilarious as Grace’s evil boss. This isn’t one of the best films of the year like I hoped, but it is very good and I would recommend it.

Now on with OUT ON A LIMB, an interesting sounding UK indie riddled with dark humor. The Brits sure know their dry, black comedy! Hopefully we'll get a chance to see this one here in the States.